Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

Mouthless mask and a mass grave – Saltworks near Provadia reveal their secrets

Photo: BTA

This year's archaeological season at the oldest salt mining center in Europe, which dates back to the 5 - 4th  millennium BC and became the first prehistoric town on the continent, is now over. The site is located near the present town of Provadia (northeastern Bulgaria) and has been studied for years. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, archaeologists' work began later this summer, but the season was extremely successful.


The latest find by Prof. Vasil Nikolov and his team is a mass grave. Days ago, while exploring the bottom of an evaporation pool, archaeologists came across 6 skulls, including children’s. It is not known whether the people buried there were killed in some of the attacks against the fortress city, or whether it was an internal conflict over salt, which was used as currency at the time.


Among the most interesting finds at Provadia-Saltworks this summer is a unique late Chalcolithic artifact. The ancient ceramic object has a triangular shape and shows an anthropomorphic image of a human face. It looks a lot like a mask. In its upper part one can see something similar to stylized ears. In addition, the object has two holes, which most likely served for hanging. The eyes of the mask are elliptical, eyebrows are painted and a nose can be seen. But the strangest thing is that the human-like image has no mouth, and many say it looks like an alien in a spacesuit. It is assumed that the object was a symbol of high status in the social hierarchy.


The focus of the archaeological works this summer were the fortification systems of the Saltworks, as well as its settlement part, including two houses, one of which was a two-storey building and its occupants used 400 square meters of space.

The origin of the Saltworks is linked to the largest and only deposit of rock salt in this part of the Balkan Peninsula. Thanks to salt, the inhabitants of the ancient town accumulated innumerable riches. Prof. Vasil Nikolov connects the salt deposit near today's Provadia with another unique find in the area – the Varna Chalcolithic Necropolis, where the oldest processed gold in the world was discovered, dating back to the same era as the Saltworks.


You can read more about this unique archaeological site in the article of Radio Bulgaria - Oldest town in Europe near Provadia - the former “mint” of the Balkans.


Compiled by: Veneta Nikolova

Photos: Veneta Nikolova

English: Alexander Markov



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

A fully preserved statue from the 2nd-3rd century was discovered in Odessos

A unique statue from the Roman period of Odessos, preliminarily dated to the late 2nd to the first half of the 3rd century, has been discovered during excavation works near the train station in Varna, said archaeologists from the Varna Regional..

published on 10/15/24 6:10 PM
Engineer Katya Stoyanova, head of the

The municipality of Petrich awarded for the promotion of Heraclea Sintica

Petrich municipality has received an award for original promotion of the tourist destination Heraclea Sintica , Katya Stoyanova, head of the "Restoration, conservation and socialization of Heraclea Sintica" project, said this for BTA.  The award..

published on 10/15/24 2:23 PM
Photo: National Museum of Natural History of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Paleontologists find more than 30 animal fossils from the time of the dinosaurs near Trun

What was the animal world like in the region of what is today the town of Trun more than 80 million years ago – that is the question paleontologists from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences’ National Museum of Natural History have been trying to answer...

published on 10/6/24 6:35 AM